Social Bookmarking the Open Source Web II

July 5, 2005 Leave a comment

We've fixed all known outstanding bugs at the new site. We've also made huge performance enhancements. While still beta, the site should be both stable and performant. I think the tagline of “Social Bookmarking, tagging and annotating all things Linux and Open Source” really sums up the purpose of the site well (although I'm still open to ideas for improvement). Keep the feedback and bug reports coming. If you think we're missing any functionality, let us know that too. One thing we plan on adding ASAP is a place to see the top links. What else is needed?
http://bookmarks.linuxquestions.org
–jeremy

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Social Bookmarking the Open Source Web

July 2, 2005 Leave a comment

We've been getting a lot of good feedback on the new site. Based on the feedback, we've already made some changes. Once again (as has been the case with the LQ Wiki and LQ ISO) David has been helping out a ton and I'd like to thank him. It wasn't all that long ago that I did 100% of the coding for LQ. Luckily that's no longer nearly the case. One functional change we've made to the underlying system is that all tags are now case insensitive. We've passed the patches upstearm to Ricardo, to get his take. I can't see a use to having a Linux tag and a linux tag, but maybe I'm missing something. That's one of the great things about Open Source. We used a piece of software and noticed something we didn't like. Not only could we see why it was functioning that way and change the functionality to suit our needs, but we could bounce the idea off the original author and offer it back to him if he's so inclined (or hear why that change may be something we shouldn't be doing in his opinion). Everyone wins.
–jeremy

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Google and Linux II

July 2, 2005 Leave a comment

A follow up to this post. I'm happy to report that Chris not only responded buy had an open and honest dialog. He pointed out Google's place for Open Source software, which I think most people already know about, but it's good to highlight. Another thing he pointed out was that many of Google's client apps, such as Picasa, came from acquired companies, and that we can't expect them to become cross-platform overnight. I think that's fair. With Google now employing more than a couple Firefox coders, I hope that we can at least get the Google toolbar for FF on all the platforms it runs on. That we be a great start and a sign that Google plans to add support to other apps at some point in the future. Like Doc said, A tall order, but it's a tall company. I couldn't agree more. I'd like to thank both Chris and Doc for taking the time to discuss this.
–jeremy

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Sneak Peak in the Latest LQ Podcast

June 30, 2005 Leave a comment

I just posted the latest LinuxQuestions.org Podcast. In it I give the URL to the site I was talking about here. You should listen to the Podcasts ;) Don't worry though, I'll also give the URL here. Inspired by sites such as del.icio.us and de.lirio.us, this new site will allow you to not only share, tag and annotate the Linux and Open Source sites you frequent, but see what everyone else is sharing, tagging and annotating. Sort of a random stream of consciousness or instant snapshot of what is important to the community, right now. Thanks goes to Ricardo SIGNES who wrote Rubric, which powers the site. Please keep in mind that the site is beta. Feel free to test away and give as as much feedback as you can. Your feedback will improve the site. Without further ado: bookmarks.linuxquestions.org.
–jeremy

Filed under Linux, Main Page, podcast

Google and Linux

June 29, 2005 1 Comment

Doc is right. Even though Google probably has the largest Linux backend in the world, they're a Windows company. Despite the benefits Linux gives them, not a single one of their apps (Desktop search, the Toolbar, Picasa and now Google Earth) run on a non-Windows platform. The ironic part, of course, is that Microsoft is one of their biggest competitors. Now, of course, Windows has the vast majority of desktop machines – but it's Google's Linux infrastructure that allows them to offer these apps in the first place. I'd really like to see them commit to running apps on Linux (and Mac, ideally). As Doc says, “Yes, I know that it only makes sense to make client software first for the platform with nine out of the ten slices in the market's pie. But it's that tenth slice that keeps the company making the other nine from enjoying a monopoly. At fighting Microsoft's client monopoly, Google isn't helping much. Quite the contrary, in fact.“. I wonder what Chris would say about this.
–jeremy
Update: I've met Chris a couple of times before (and ate dinner with him at the LWE .org Google party last year – thanks Google!), so I figured I'd ask him what he thought, instead of wondering. If he responds, I'll post an update.

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Web 2.0: Social Search

June 29, 2005 Leave a comment

Jeremy's My Web 2.0: Social Search post couldn't have come at a more appropriate time for LQ. We are almost ready to release something that allows you to “bookmark, annotate, tag, and share”. He puts why that is important better than I could have, though. While the Yahoo! release is a general purpose tool, the LQ one will of course be squarely targeted at Linux and Open Source. You'll be able to not only share, tag and annotate what you have, but see what everyone else is sharing, tagging and annotating. Sort of a random stream of consciousness or instant snapshot of what is important to the community right now. I'll post more as soon as we have something working available, but I thought I'd give everyone a sneak peak at what you can expect next from us.
–jeremy

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Grokster Decision

June 28, 2005 1 Comment

By now, I'm sure you've heard about the Grokster decision (PDF). While I was extremely disappointed at first, upon further inspection it may not be quite as bad as some of the original stories made it out to be. While it's still disappointing, I guess it could have been worse. Basically, “one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties.”
The problem is going to be that litigious bastards will do everything in their power to say that some very legitimate apps, such as bittorrent, are being promoted this way. I wonder if Bram Cohen is worried? I haven't seen him publicly comment. I can say that we use bittorrent for 100% legitimate purposes – namely distributing content for LQ Radio. I can also say that it saves us a considerable amount of bandwidth. Thanks Bram! It was great to read that Podcasts were actually used as an example of legitimate non-infringing use for P2P apps.
Another problem I see here is that companies always err on the side of caution when it comes to potential litigation. That means that this case will almost definitely have a negative impact on innovation, which is a real shame. Here's was Scoble and Doc had to say on the issue. As Mark Cuban points out, there was no response from Wall Street on this news, which would seem to indicate that they don't think illegal P2P downloads have any impact on the bottom line of companies like Warner Media Group. I couldn't agree more (and the numbers surely seem to support this). I think Mark sums it up extremely well when he says “The MGM Grokster decision won't help the content business make more money. It wont help artists make more money. This deal gave something to both sides, but it gave the most to lawyers and lobbyists.“. Like the lawyers and lobbyists need more…
–jeremy
Update (06/29/05): Ouch – Maybe Bram does have something to worry about. Goes to show that you never know what comment will come back to bite you four years later (even if your opinion since then has changed).

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Gnomedex Linux Discussion

June 26, 2005 1 Comment

It's no secret that I like Firefox (and Mozilla, actually). Every time I talk to Asa, I like it a little more. He gets Open Source and you can tell he really cares about users. He also knows how to market Open Source to a “mainstream” audience. During our chat at the subject of Linux came up and it was with great interest that I listened to his complaints. He's clearly not someone that doesn't like or doesn't get OSS, so I listened closely to his criticisms and took them as constructive. I have to admit that most of the conferences I attend are Linux or Open Source related, so it was good for me to get a different perspective on a lot of things in Seattle. You can read some of Asa's issues here, but he had some other issues that I think are more important. I think sometimes as a community we can end up being a little defensive (mainly because we are often put on the defense by continual FUD) and IMHO it's extremely important to listen when we are getting valid criticisms by people who want to see us succeed. I'll likely be picking Asa's brain for a little while to get a clear understanding and then try to pass a summary on to some people that can actually make a difference. …and that's one of the great things about Linux – it's continually improving and anyone can make a difference. We've come a long long way, but it's important for us to realize that we still have a long way to go. I'm just glad to be able to be part of the fantastic ride.
–jeremy

Filed under Linux, Main Page

Gnomedex – Microsoft RSS

June 24, 2005 Leave a comment

The keystone by Dean Hachamovitch of Microsoft is just wrapping up. Once again it's clear that there really are some people at Microsoft that “get it”. We got the first public preview of IE7 here at Gnomedex and RSS integration looks to be very tightly integrated into Longhorn. Some great ideas on the horizon here and I look forward to some of them making there way into my Linux desktop. Dean seemed to be a bit defensive in his talk though. Someone asked why Microsoft was once again doing their own thing and not getting input from the community and working with the community. The question wasn't answered at all. Later on, someone commented that this really seems like good old “embrace and extend” lite. That also wasn't really addressed fully. It's clear that Microsoft is changing (for the better) and kudos to them for releasing this under CC by-sa, but it seems that the change is still happening on an individual level and not yet a company level. More information about what was talked about here should be available here at about noon Gnomedex time.

–jeremy
Update: Here's the noon update.

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Gnomedex Google Party

June 24, 2005 Leave a comment

Sitting in the Cove (as of now, there are eight of us) and the conference just started. The Google sponsored party last night was great. Met a bunch of people and the discussion was fantastic (and the Heineken was on Google). I can say that Web 2.0 is here and a bunch of companies have some *awesome* things on the way. Much of the discussion was “off the record”, and I am going to respect that, but very cool things are happening behind the scenes. Web applications are maturing and a couple of things I heard were really exciting. I'll update this blog as the day progresses.

–jeremy

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